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In this artist talk, Joseph Grigely discusses historical issues related to the visual representation of conversation. Grigely’s works probe the idiosyncrasies of everyday communication and explore how sound can be visually rendered. Grigley was ill during the talk and had to stop. He asked friend and artist Stephanie Brooks, who was in the audience, to deliver most of the talk for him.

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Distinguished curator, critic and artist Robert Storr examines how Jenny Holzer’s silk-screened paintings, which are based on declassified US government documents, communicate meaning and the degree to which they represent continuities and shifts in her artistic practice.

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Symposium: Disruptions: the political in art now
Recorded October 24–25, 2008

Bringing together influential theorists, artists, curators, and educators, this symposium explores the intersections of politics and art in the first decade of the 21st century.

Open Remarks, Doug Ashford Opening Lecture
Opening Remarks: Elizabeth Smith, James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Programs at the MCA, and curator of Jenny Holzer: PROTECT PROTECT. Opening Lecture: Doug Ashford, After 1988: A reflection on the nature of critical practices since Group Material’s Democracy project

Interlude: Gregg Bordowitz, Belief and Volition.
On the conflicting impulses and philosophical contradictions that inform Bordowitz’s work and the role of belief regarding volition-the faculty of power to exert one’s will.

Panel: Absurdities and Public Interventions
Panelists: Mark Tribe, Carolina Caycedo, Brian Holmes, Salem Collo-Julin.On art and activism, expression and dissent, responsibility, and relations between protest, public space and the public sphere.

Panel: Everywhere and Nowhere
Panelists: Trevor Paglen, Simon Leung, Robert Pruitt, Eda Cufer. On the politics of locating, understanding, and contextualizing politically invested art, and the tactics artists are employing to activate and reveal new political landscapes.

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Known for their groundbreaking exhibitions and scholarship in the field of contemporary art, Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the MCA’s Pritzker Director Madeleine Grynsztejn discuss what it means to lead contemporary art museums today and how their institutions contribute deeply to their respective communities.